Day 20 of Fitness – House of Payne Personal Training

Yesterday, Jennifer Prins, account executive from Atlanta Home Improvement magazine, took a class to participate in Best Self Atlanta’s 30 Days of Fitness blog series. Today, I decided to hop on the fitness bandwagon and join in on the fun.

For Day 20 of Fitness, I took my workout regimen to the next level through a bodybuilding competition posing class at House of Payne’s Personal Training facility. While it may sound easy to flex and hold a pose for close to a minute at a time, to my surprise it was quite strenuous—especially as a first-timer.

Once arriving to the House of Payne Personal Training gym, I was greeted by co-owner Steve Payne, who then instructed me to remove my shirt and follow him to the competition stage. From there, I stood on a stage shirtless surrounded by a giant mirror. In the background of my reflection was the looming presence of competition bodybuilders flipping over monster truck tires and taping up their quads before hitting the squat rack. I felt intimidated at first but then noticed that no one was even looking at me. Everyone there was completely focused on their own body and their own progress.

Steve then joined me on stage and guided me through five main poses that builders are normally judged on. After completing those five poses, I noticed how sweaty I had become. Steve then explained that one of the most common misconceptions about exercise and muscle-building is the use of weights. He explained that the most important thing to remember when building a competitive and aesthetically pleasing physique is the mind-muscle connection. This is the process of your brain telling your body exactly which muscles to engage and how to engage them. I took this newfound knowledge off the stage and down to the back weight room.

In the weight room, Steve handed me a 25 pound dumbbell and told me to perform a dumbbell press motion. I normally do more than twice this weight, but Steve insisted I slow my motions down to a ten seconds up, ten seconds down routine. I then immediately felt an increase in my mind-muscle connection and noticed that my chest muscles were flexing and engaging like never before!

I was completely surprised by how slowing down and thinking hard about which muscles you are using can affect the workout. We then did this same routine with legs, back and triceps—low weight, high-concentration and powerful flexing and holding. The last 30 minutes turned into an extremely effective and exhausting workout. I went into this workout slightly intimidated and skeptical. I left with an inspired plan for training and an awesome pump.